Young Writers Project for week of May 30, 2016

Humbling: “I thought I knew the answer, but …” finish the sentence in a story of a real or imagined experience.

All over

By Sam Silberman, Burlington

I thought I knew the answer, but I … I was wrong. It is all lost now. All the work I have done, the pain I have suffered, the time I have sacrificed. It’s all over.

I don’t know what to say. I walk off the stage and sit down in a chair. I watch the ceremony, just hearing deafening silence.

I go to find my parents. We are silent as we walk back to the car, step after step.

I feel like nothing really matters now. This has been years of commitment, and I fall just short. The National Geography Bee. I was that close to winning.

I open the rear car door and take a seat in our old, same-as-always car. I take out my phone, plug in my earbuds, and escape into a different world, trying to forget the reality: I lost.

Beloved brother

By Mariame Yamgambi, Burlington

I thought I knew the answer, but it turns out I didn’t. Every day and night I prayed, and in my prayers I said, “God, please bless my family and me. Make sure that no one in my family dies.”

It worked for eight years, ever since I had started talking. Then on Oct. 28, 2012, my sisters, my father and I went to take pictures to register for school. One hour later, when we were going back home, my father got a phone call from my cousin who said that my brother fell.

My father immediately stopped the car, and he made us take the bus home. When we got home, everything was fine.

I said to my sisters, “Imagine if our brother comes home in a hospital robe.”

Several hours later my aunt came home crying and screaming my brother’s name, “Joe, Joe, Joe.” She told my mom, “Joe died; he died.” My mom screamed, “No!” Then she punched the wall.

My sisters and I cried for a long time. My friend came up to the house and looked at us throwing our bodies on the floor, (that was very humiliating), but we were in so much pain that we didn’t care.

When my father came back from the hospital, we just had to ask him if it was true; he didn’t even have the courage to answer, so he nodded.

At that exact moment I realized that I would never hug my one and only brother.

In 2014, I still couldn’t believe that I had lost my one and only brother. I loved him and I never had the chance to tell him.

Since that period of my life, I kind of started to believe less in my prayers, but some of them kept coming true. I thought I knew the answer, but it turns out not all prayers can come true.

Wrong!

By Innogen Naylor, Charlotte

I thought I knew the answer; I thought I was right. But I guess not. I can’t believe it; this can’t be happening. They’re going to make me pay for this; they won’t let it go. I have to hide; they can’t see this. They can’t see me. I have to be invisible; I have to disappear. I can’t face them; I can’t go through that again. It can’t happen; I won’t let it. I have to run; I have to get away. That’s it, I’ll just run away. I can’t face them; it’s the only option. I have to go. I must go. I can’t come back, not now, not ever.

Easy for others

By Rupesh Gurung, Burlington

I thought I knew the answer, but I was wrong, like always.

When I was younger (and still now), I was the type to yell out an answer, but I was often wrong.

Everyone would look at me like I had just come out of kindergarten.

A feeling of embarrassment would flow down my body like a cold stream flowing down a mountain.

After the class that day, when I got home, I slowly dropped my backpack on the floor next to the bed wondering why I was wrong.

The math question wasn’t that hard, or was it? Or was it just one of those easy-for-everyone-but-me math questions?

Ski racer

By Keira Yardley, Charlotte

I thought I knew the answer to my mom’s question, “Do you want to ski race?”

But boy, was I wrong.

When I was younger, I was certain I would hate ski racing with all the ruts and ice, people going as fast as they could down an immense mountain, picking up speed rapidly as they turned around each gate. I never thought that would be of interest to me.

When I was 6, I tried it for the first time. Joy filled my veins when the wind came at me.

My heart pounded as my skis bumped up and down through the snow, the feeling of happiness rushing through my blood.

Worst class ever

By Ana Sealy, Burlington

I am sitting in math class, quietly crying to myself. Wait, wait, I am getting a little ahead of myself; let me go back 30 minutes. It was the start of second period and I had math. I hate math but I guess it’s okay this year. There was a math problem on the board when I walked in.

“Are we supposed to solve this?” I asked.

No one responded to me so I just did it. We were learning about this problem, but I was still confused about how to solve it.

My math teacher came into the room, and he asked for a volunteer to share how they solved the problem. I was praying that he wouldn’t call on me, but just my luck, he called on me, and I could feel my face getting red and fast. I had a feeling that my answer could be sort of right, but I wasn’t sure.

I walked to the board as though I had chains attached to my feet. I wrote how I solved the problem on the board, but I could hear a few chuckles behind me. My teacher said it was wrong and to go sit down.

“I thought I knew the answer, but…” He cut me off. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t stop crying. This was the worst class ever.